Never miss a local story.

Read on to the next chapter and Amos says “But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness.”

Ancient scripture does not easily lend itself to particular conflicts in modern politics partly because of seeming contradictions in scripture. It is in the endless searching of those contradictions where wisdom appears.

Perhaps Comey is starting his search.

Alan Culton

Chapel Hill

Get ACA help today

Partnership for a Healthy Durham Column

Shopping for health care just got even more complicated due to the current administration’s reduction in (Affordable Care Act) ACA subsidies by $7 million. The 2018 Open Enrollment Period runs through Dec. 15.

If individuals don't act by then coverage will be unavailable unless they qualify for a Special Enrollment Period because of certain life events such getting married, having a baby or losing other coverage.

Individuals have multiple local options for enrollment such as calling 1-855-733-3711, visiting www.healthcare.gov or local agencies such as MDC Inc., Durham County Department of Social Services or the Lincoln Community Health Center, 1301 Fayetteville Road.

Inadequate health insurance remains one of the top five concerns for members of the Hispanic and Latino community in Durham County. Health services were also ranked as the number one service to improve the quality of life of adults ages 65 and older.

The 2016 Durham County Community Health Assessment Survey identified approximately 80% of Durham County residents were insured over the past 12 months. Those that were uninsured listed cost, employer, and immigration as their three primary reasons for lack of coverage. About 15% of Durham County residents reported that they or someone in their household had difficulty accessing health care in the past 12 months. Of those respondents, fifty percent reported insurance coverage as a barrier to obtaining necessary healthcare while 33.3% reported that the cost of the co-pay was a factor in preventing obtainment of necessary healthcare.

The Partnership for a Healthy Durham collaborates with community members and local organizations such as Lincoln Community Health Center and Duke University Health System to improve the physical, mental, and social health and well-being of Durham's residents. The Partnership has five committees that focus on four health priorities: Access to Care, HIV/STIs (sexually transmitted infections), Obesity and Chronic Illness and Substance Use/Mental Health and Communications. The Partnership for Healthy Durham Access to Care committee has been working to educate about ACA enrollment. Please share enrolment information with our fellow Durham residents.

Visit Lincoln Community Health Center, Inc. from 8 a.m. to noon today (Dec. 9) to see a navigator. Also call 855-733-3711 to schedule an appointment with a navigator. Services are available in Spanish.

The Partnership for a Healthy Durham

What is going on?

She was attractive, and so was my late wife. Both were engineers in male environments. This was in Poland. “Hitting” on a woman was a no-no, resulting in ostracism. Polish women generally had strong family direction and knew how to handle an unwanted advance: with calm, or a slap in the face, and then the incident was promptly forgotten. Moreover, women there had more serious worries. It was Communism and almost nothing to put on a plate for dinner.

Now briefly about our lives in America. I worked at three companies in management with a number of women, and my wife also worked. Sexual harassment was cause for immediate dismissal. I/we did not have even one case. This is not only my experience. My American lady-cardiologist said of the present hysteria: “What is going on? At the university and after graduation I had a minor incident, I dealt with it and immediately forgot.” But that was then!

Compare this with my feminist neighbor’s “horror” stories: “Thirty years ago, in the lab, the professor kissed me on my neck – this gives me shudders even today!” Another horror episode: “I was waiting in front of the hotel for my husband to go to a party, a car stopped by and the guy asked ‘How much, baby?’ Terrified, I ran up to take a shower.”

I wonder, what is going on now? Do we have a subculture in the upper echelons, resulting in $17 million in our tax money being paid to cover their misdeeds? Were we oblivious to what was going on?

I don’t think so. This “thing” has developed at least for half a century. American families failed to raise women able to stand up for themselves. Now they run to the campus authorities or organize protests pushing idiotic laws. Gloria Steinem’s “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle” screwed women’s minds, keeping them from seeing the hidden traps of modern feminism. The Allreds prospered.

Tammy Bruce wrote “The things that made this country great are under attack by the cultural elite determined to forge a different set of rules for themselves devoid of decency, responsibility and honor.”

Sven Sonnenberg

Chapel Hill

Abolition Day celebration

The Honorable U.S. Congressman G.K. Butterfield traveled from Washington to Raleigh to serve as keynote speaker for the Abolition Day Celebration at Shaw University. He brought facts, figures and a map. Everyone learned something new about the abolition of slavery in America, according to the show of hands when he asked that question. Butterfield detailed the involvement of Abraham Lincoln, Congress and the states.

Unbeknownst to him, he also initiated a new tradition for the annual ceremony. He described how the chamber fell silent at the passing of the legislation that legally ended slavery; and, then how applause, cheers and cries erupted as many tossed their handkerchiefs into the air. He gave those present the opportunity to wave their handkerchiefs in symbolic gleefulness over the freedom of millions of ancestors. After he left for another appointment, the group decided to bring handkerchiefs to future celebrations to make that eruption of gratitude a part of the program.

The vision to celebrate the Dec. 6, 1865, Ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution emanated from U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Jim Wynn and is supported by the Berean Community Center and Shaw University Divinity School. This is an annual program worthy of calendaring each December. Watch for details, so you will not miss it.

Evelyn Dove-Coleman

Kinston

Duke Chapel statues

Note: You can read and comment on more local news on editor Mark Schultz’s Facebook page (send him a Friend request). A post this week linking to our story on a Duke panel suggesting the university consider removing the remaining statues at Duke Chapel, such as those of Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther, prompted several readers’ comments, including:

Michael Shavel: Yeah, I hear Lincoln cheated on his taxes too. Let's get rid of his memorial. I get the sentiment behind this and people getting all worked up, but it is getting out of hand.

Ken Kingery: I doubt it. There's a difference between having done something common for the times and celebrating a general who openly took up arms in rebellion against our country.3

Chris Weaver: Removing things that might trigger people who never developed coping skills is an accommodation too far. Let us pray our future leaders never arise from this delicate stock as they will subjugate us all into the soft bondage of being made to care. Oh wait, that's underway now.

Stewart Waller: Robert E Lee was a traitor to this very country and failed in his bid to destroy it. Martin Luther is a foreign historical figure who, despite his personal failings, succeeded in the progressive march of history.

Kayley Thorpe: The timely, highly contentious issues of Confederate monuments and the violence associated with pro-Confederate neo-nazis today is greatly removed from the flaws of other historical figures. Not to mention, these other men did what are generally considered great things. Robert E. Lee did something ignoble, attempting to break up the Union, to preserve the institution of human slavery. I see no reason whatsoever that removing his image from a chapel should throw a shadow upon the image of other men whose accomplishments actually merit such honor.

What you’re saying

Please send up to 300 words to letters@heraldsun.com. All submissions, online comments and posts on editor Mark Schultz’s Facebook page may be edited for space and clarity. Thank you.

More Videos

CityWell methodist church announces fifth sanctuary protection in NC

Samuel Oliver-Bruno, 46, was ordered to return to Mexico by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to return to Mexico, instead he entered into sanctuary at CityWell United Methodist Church on Sunday, Dec. 10. On Wednesday, Dec. 13, the church held a press conference to announce the protection where Oliver-Bruno verbalized his request to remain in the US, citing his wife’s unstable medical condition and his son’s bright future.